Travel Expats -- People Leaving The United States to Pursue Flag Theory

[Regal Tiger]

I was honestly starting to believe that I'd never get to this point, but now that I'm getting closer and closer to being able to permanently leave I'm starting to feel an excitement that I haven't felt in so fucking long...



That's the background, here's my problem that I'm hoping people can help me with: I used to know this shit. Now I don't

What I'd like to know is just some general stuff: like where did you go?

Do you know of any expat forums or communities that I could possibly join?

What are your favorite resources?

Just some basic stuff


I know of NomadCapitalist and a few other websites (like the one that allows you to compare passports against each other). I plan on starting to really dig into those, but I also wanted to post this question here as well.

I used to know of a community that all huddled together like 5 years ago or so somewhere in Thailand I think, or maybe it was Vietnam but I think Thailand. And it was basically a community that helped each other adjust to the process of building an online business as well as not being in America anymore. It was meant as like a short term area where you weren't completely out on your own, like a diving board or something like that if you want an analogy.


I've been doing some reading for the past few hours and there's so much that I forgot and everything is probably changed so much. It's been like 5 years since I really knew this stuff and life hasn't exactly been easy since...

But yeah! I'm actually motivated again, haven't felt like this in a long time so not all is doom and gloom!

 

[DoWhatWorks]

What are your favorite resources?

I also like Nomad Capitalist. Was recently recommended Soverign Male & Dollar Vigalante by a member of this forum.

Revolutionary Lifestyle Design is another guy that covers these topics but is more lifestyle/ biz building focused.

that helped each other adjust to the process of building an online business

A community like that sounds very helpful!

My only caution would be it’s far better to set your business up to a comfortable place than move rather than rely on savings while building which can be stressful.

Always happy to exchange notes, currently deep in this stuff too.

 

[Chase]

Man, I saw 'Nomad Capitalist' and thought Naughty Nomad rebranded for a moment there.

Took a second to realize there's probably a lot of people using 'Nomad' in their titles...!

I think the Swoop the World forum used to be pretty active. Not sure how active it is now. Looks like it's member-only these days. Used to be public access.

The guys on the StackThatMoney forum used to almost have an enclave in Thailand. Not sure if they're all still down there. They're back to doing annual events in Bangkok again though. Supposedly the scene's changed in Thailand the past few years though. Not sure how much / if it's still big for expats.

#1 tip I can give you is stay at hostels, talk to everyone, and ask for tips. It's cheap and you'll find lots of knowledgeable travelers, get invited out to meet more people, and get linked up with other people you can meet up with in other places, making travel a lot easier. You'll find all sorts of things / get all sorts of tips it'd be hard to get otherwise.

Also, there is a choice when you travel... hang with expats or go native. The expat scene is typically its own bubble. Going deep into surrounding yourself with natives is a totally different experience. Both can be very enlightening. Most people will prefer the expat bubble though -- going native is too jarring for some folks. You'll meet a lot of folks in expat bubbles complaining about the host culture... difficult for many people to adjust to cultures that are different from theirs (especially if you're talking continental differences -- not so bad if you're an Austrian in Germany, but it could be if you're an Austrian in Indonesia).

Chase

 

[Regal Tiger]

I also like Nomad Capitalist. Was recently recommended Soverign Male & Dollar Vigalante by a member of this forum.

Revolutionary Lifestyle Design is another guy that covers these topics but is more lifestyle/ biz building focused.

Sweet! I haven't heard of those so I'll look into them, thank ya!

A community like that sounds very helpful!

My only caution would be it’s far better to set your business up to a comfortable place than move rather than rely on savings while building which can be stressful.

Yeah, but there's also TEFL --> teaching English which I plan on doing immediately after learning a new language

Always happy to exchange notes, currently deep in this stuff too.

Oh nice! Where do you plan on jetting out to?

 

[Regal Tiger]

Man, I saw 'Nomad Capitalist' and thought Naughty Nomad rebranded for a moment there.

>.>

Haha

Took a second to realize there's probably a lot of people using 'Nomad' in their titles...!

I think the Swoop the World forum used to be pretty active. Not sure how active it is now. Looks like it's member-only these days. Used to be public access.

They were actually the ones that got me excited about this in the first place, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when. Like 6-7 years ago I think. So it's cool that somebody still remembers them but yeah, the website doesn't seem all that great anymore from what I remember

The guys on the StackThatMoney forum used to almost have an enclave in Thailand. Not sure if they're all still down there. They're back to doing annual events in Bangkok again though. Supposedly the scene's changed in Thailand the past few years though. Not sure how much / if it's still big for expats.

Sweet, I'll look into it thank ya!

#1 tip I can give you is stay at hostels, talk to everyone, and ask for tips. It's cheap and you'll find lots of knowledgeable travelers, get invited out to meet more people, and get linked up with other people you can meet up with in other places, making travel a lot easier. You'll find all sorts of things / get all sorts of tips it'd be hard to get otherwise.

Good advice, thank you!

Also, there is a choice when you travel... hang with expats or go native. The expat scene is typically its own bubble. Going deep into surrounding yourself with natives is a totally different experience. Both can be very enlightening. Most people will prefer the expat bubble though -- going native is too jarring for some folks. You'll meet a lot of folks in expat bubbles complaining about the host culture... difficult for many people to adjust to cultures that are different from theirs (especially if you're talking continental differences -- not so bad if you're an Austrian in Germany, but it could be if you're an Austrian in Indonesia).

Chase

I think my overall plan has always been to transition into going more local/native after a little bit. I don't think that I would experience that much culture shock because I've never felt like I fit in anywhere anyways, so I think it'd be business as normal for me. But I've also never been out of the country so I think the tactical move would be to be around other people who have gone further than me first just in case. Then go for what I'm ultimately aiming for

But yeah, definitely good advice!


---

Brings up a curious question though, if I remember right you talked about being in Asia and locals being easier to game because the other expats saw you as too much of a rarity and slow-gamed you. Looking back, would you say that was still the case or were there things you could have done differently now that you look back?

 

[Winston]

Regarding tax optimisation, "Flag theory" is mostly outdated/marketing BS.

International fiscal laws have evolved. Loopholes have been closed. Now if one follows basic advice from basic internet marketers, it will just be outright fraud.

Expatriation is cool. Political and geographical diversication is cool too. But regarding the workings of the international tax system, my recommandation is to learn from lawyers and not online marketers.

 

[Regal Tiger]

Regarding tax optimisation, "Flag theory" is mostly outdated/marketing BS.

International fiscal laws have evolved. Loopholes have been closed. Now if one follows basic advice from basic internet marketers, it will just be outright fraud.

Expatriation is cool. Political and geographical diversication is cool too. But regarding the workings of the international tax system, my recommandation is to learn from lawyers and not online marketers.

That's what a lot of the people I read say to do though?

They just give you the idea of things that exist out there and enough information to go out and do it yourself. Obviously I've never been out of the country but that's always been my impression

 

[Chase]

@Regal Tiger,

Brings up a curious question though, if I remember right you talked about being in Asia and locals being easier to game because the other expats saw you as too much of a rarity and slow-gamed you. Looking back, would you say that was still the case or were there things you could have done differently now that you look back?

There's a kind of polarization of expat girls in Asia.

Many/most of the expat guys are going for local girls at least sometimes (if not all the time). The expat girls are a lot less likely to go for local guys, and the local guys in general are either intimidated by or uninterested in them. So there's an extreme man shortage for your typical expat girl, and you will encounter things like:

• Expat girls who were single and loving it, hooking up like crazy in their home countries, then they hit Asia and within half a year they're the perfect monogamous girlfriend to some guy
  
  
• Expat girls who are super stressed out, unable to find a guy, complaining about expat guys going for local women and nobody going for them... even really beautiful girls have this complaint

Some expat girls are super, super easy to bed, because they're hard up for it and/or because they don't want to risk losing you by not putting out. Even some very beautiful girls fall into this "super easy to bed with basic game once they've been in Asia a few weeks/months" camp.

Some expat girls go the opposite way and turn into nuns though, because they're just desperate for an LTR and have had expat guys pump and dump them.... so they're firmly set on the "make him wait so you can get commitment first" strategy.

It does seem to work for them eventually, with the caveat that they are almost always dating down. There's a selection of expat guys who only date expat girls and/or totally lack game so are only able to get with girls who are around them all the time at work or social events. These guys are fine getting slow-gamed because they still end up with a girl who's out of their leagues. The more desirable expat guys with game won't put up with that -- the girl needs to hook up fast to get them (or else they'll just be off banging more locals).

Chase